Sunday driving, yeah

Goldie and I decided (ok, greyhound mutts are not much on the decision-making process, so I decided) to see where we would end up if we drove exactly an hour from our house. We left at 2:57 p.m.



These yellow flowers lined the road for hundreds of yards at a time. They perfumed the air so it smelled exactly like lovely corn tortillas. Yum. I am not sure what they are, but my sister would have answered "Castorbeanii californica." Works for me.


At 3:57 p.m., we arrived here. It is what we call "the Sespe," north of Ojai, in the Los Padres National Forest. Not many people around. It is pretty quiet out here.


We saw beautiful wildflowers like this lupine. I tried to remember what Dr. Shirley Pimentel said at Cal Poly about lupines during the two hour lecture she gave my plant taxonomy class on the subject. Man, I was lucky to be taught by an international lupine expert. I wish I could recall something, anything, she said. That would make this post so much more interesting, don't you think? Oh, the little petals on the bottom are called the "keel"petals. And lupines are related to beans and peas, but they are poisonous to cattle. Thanks, Dr. P.


We saw some fauna, too, like this giant carpenter bee. Go ahead, correct me, all ye entymologists.



Goldie got to wade in a creek.


We saw the Matilija Poppy (the fried egg flower) in its native habitat.


We did a little hiking. Goldie led the way. We did not break the digital camera, though we tried. It is surprisingly tough.

What did YOU do on Sunday?